Subject: Re: bridge devices
To: None <netbsd-help@netbsd.org>
From: None <brook@biology.nmsu.edu>
List: netbsd-help
Date: 06/13/2003 15:10:42
Julian Coleman writes:
 > > Any suggestions or examples are welcome.  Thanks.
 > 
 > So, only 1 IP address on le0.  All interfaces added to the bridge, bridge
 > configured up.

This is essentially what I have done.  The following commands are what
I used to set things up.

     ifconfig ep0 delete
     ifconfig wi0 delete
     ifconfig bridge0 create
     brconfig bridge0 add ep0
     brconfig bridge0 add wi0
     brconfig bridge0 up

Using tcpdump on either bridge interface I see packets being passed
through the bridge from the opposite network segment.  When I ping
from a box on the wireless net to one on the wired net I can see the
arp requests arriving at the bridge's wireless interface and exiting
the wired interface.  I can also see the arp responses going in the
opposite direction across the bridge.  Thus, it looks like the bridge
is passing packets as it should.

However, the box on the wireless net (which initiated the arp
requests) never seems to receive any packets from the bridge.
Actually, the counters accessible via wiconfig seem to be
incrementing, so perhaps the packets do arrive at some level.
However, tcpdump on the wireless box never reports any packets and the
arp table is never filled.

If the bridge is taken off the wired net and reconfigured not be be a
bridge, and the wireless box has the same configuration as before, the
two can communicate fine.  If the bridge is reconfigured as a router
between two different subnets, the wireless box can communicate fine
with hosts beyond the bridge (now router).

Thus, there appears to be something specific to the receipt of packets
from the bridge when it is configured as a bridge.  What happens
differently to the packets in that case that would cause problems like
this?  Have I configured something incorrectly?

Thanks again for your help.

Cheers,
Brook